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I can't beleive how thin this section of the forum is, but I'll throw this out there anyway.
I've purchased a used 07 GT and I need advice in setting up the car for autox. I've autox'd on a local level for about 8 years with a bmw 328. It was rear wheel drive, but not high horse power like the GT. I plan on staying in stock class per the SCCA solo II rules. Right now all I can put on the car is tires for this year. Next year will be shocks/struts and a front sway.
That said, I need advice on tire pressures and if there is any adjustment on the car to allow more negitive camber adjustments on the front end. I know that Stano autox's a healthy Mustang, so the car is competetive.
I'm planning on running a set of 275 victoracers on stock 17x8 wheels. That's about the best bang for the buck I can afford right now. ANY words of wisdom would be welcom here. I'm looking for any advice on tire pressures, brake pads and such. Also need to know if you can late brake the mustang. I had to early brake the 328, otherwise it would push in the turns. The 328 was true to the term, slow in, fast out. Don't know how balanced this car is from the factory; I know that all stock cars will push, but at least I can throttle steer this one.
I also notice this car has a saddle bag gas tank. Is there any starvation issues? How low of a tank of gas can you run before there are pick up problems?
OK, last but not least. I like the way the car sounds and not really interested in making it louder, but would like to make it breath better. For my class, I can change the air filter and cat back. I'm running a K&N up front, the cat backs are spendy. I've seen some of the X pipe replacement kits that get rid of the H pipe. Anyone have any information on whether or not this aids in exhaust flow?
That's all I have for now. If you have any autocross wisdom to provide on the s197 cars, I'd appreciate in hearing what you have to say.
Thanks!!
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I am sure you know your car would be in F-Stock with SCCA. And according to the "rules" the only modifications you can make are shocks, front sway bar, and cat-back exhaust. Ford Almost cloned the front suspension of your E36/46 BMW on these mustangs, so couple of the same rules can still apply.
Tires will be your best upgrade, depending on what tires you get will depend on pressures. I have never run on Victoracers so I cannot suggest an optimal psi to run but I had a set of Toyo RA-1s that I ran at 34 psi at all four corners. If you don't get adjustable shocks you might play with tire pressures to get a little more balance out of the car.
Brakes for the car are very good, an upgraded pad, maybe like a Hawk HPS or HP+ pad is really all you would need. But I do not rely on late braking when I run, the slow in fast out rule still applies.
You will not need a bigger front sway bar, it is huge already, leave the stock one in there.
The gas can be run down pretty low. I drive to the events but usually I have about 1/4 to 1/2 of tank left and then fill up on my way home. The low gas alert will sound during your runs but you can run it even lower, there wont be any fuel starvation issues.
I haven't done any exhaust work on my car yet, it is getting done as soon as spring starts to get here. I have the FFRP X-Pipe going on with a Dynomax 2.5" stainless kit. From what I have heard the sound seems to be tamed until you get on it, then it gets loud. But sound and noise are all personal opinion, loud to me might not be loud to you.
My last suggestion for you would be to contact Sam Strano, you have mentioned you have seen his posts on this forum. Call him, he has a wealth of knowledge that he is more then will to share. Pretty much 95% of the tips I have gotten for the setup on my car I have gotten from him.
Good Luck!
__________________
"I have made a bar graph of my favorite Pies and I made a pie chart of my favorite Bars" - Marshall Eriksen
I am sure you know your car would be in F-Stock with SCCA. And according to the "rules" the only modifications you can make are shocks, front sway bar, and cat-back exhaust. Ford Almost cloned the front suspension of your E36/46 BMW on these mustangs, so couple of the same rules can still apply.
Tires will be your best upgrade, depending on what tires you get will depend on pressures. I have never run on Victoracers so I cannot suggest an optimal psi to run but I had a set of Toyo RA-1s that I ran at 34 psi at all four corners. If you don't get adjustable shocks you might play with tire pressures to get a little more balance out of the car.
Brakes for the car are very good, an upgraded pad, maybe like a Hawk HPS or HP+ pad is really all you would need. But I do not rely on late braking when I run, the slow in fast out rule still applies.
You will not need a bigger front sway bar, it is huge already, leave the stock one in there.
The gas can be run down pretty low. I drive to the events but usually I have about 1/4 to 1/2 of tank left and then fill up on my way home. The low gas alert will sound during your runs but you can run it even lower, there wont be any fuel starvation issues.
I haven't done any exhaust work on my car yet, it is getting done as soon as spring starts to get here. I have the FFRP X-Pipe going on with a Dynomax 2.5" stainless kit. From what I have heard the sound seems to be tamed until you get on it, then it gets loud. But sound and noise are all personal opinion, loud to me might not be loud to you.
My last suggestion for you would be to contact Sam Strano, you have mentioned you have seen his posts on this forum. Call him, he has a wealth of knowledge that he is more then will to share. Pretty much 95% of the tips I have gotten for the setup on my car I have gotten from him.
Good Luck!
jayel579, thanks for the reply. Yes, FS it is and I'm looking forward to it. Ran in various classes over the last 8 years, 5 of which was running my 328i in STS. Tired of spending stupid money. At least stock class slows that down (some).
I got another reply on mustang evolution from another autoxer and he gave some very good tips. He mimiced some of your advice, so I think I'm on the right track. As for your tire pressures, I'm surprised you ran that low. I was at 38 for the bimmer, but that was a more narrow tire, so this may be the trick. What width do you run?
As for the hawk + pads, not a big fan of those, no modulation. They are either on or off. I had a set of BHP CR6 pads on the 328 and like those a lot, but I think BHP is now of biz, so need to find something else.
Next year will be a search for shocks/struts and front sway. I see you said your changing out your catback. You doing that to remove weight or is there any performance gain? You have any dyno sheets to back your catback install?
I run mine 34 in the rears and 36-38 up front on my stock 235 18" tires. I remove the spare tire that's about the only "set up" I do/have done to mine. It will take some getting used to coming from a 328, but once you get used to it and know how to control it right it is actually a pretty competitive car in auto x. I found myself doing much better than I thought a heavy, high mustang could do. One of the things I like is how forgiving it is when the back end steps out. I have watched several of the lower/stiffer suspension cars (S2000's, etc.) get a little sideways and end up spinning completely on almost every run.
I'm sure you won't have any problems since you've been doing it for 8 years. Last year was my first year auto x'ing and I can't wait for the season to start back!
Here's one of my vids to give you an idea...
I run mine 34 in the rears and 36-38 up front on my stock 235 18" tires. I remove the spare tire that's about the only "set up" I do/have done to mine. It will take some getting used to coming from a 328, but once you get used to it and know how to control it right it is actually a pretty competitive car in auto x. I found myself doing much better than I thought a heavy, high mustang could do. One of the things I like is how forgiving it is when the back end steps out. I have watched several of the lower/stiffer suspension cars (S2000's, etc.) get a little sideways and end up spinning completely on almost every run.
I'm sure you won't have any problems since you've been doing it for 8 years. Last year was my first year auto x'ing and I can't wait for the season to start back!
Here's one of my vids to give you an idea...
I watched your run, nicely done considering this was your first year of autox'g. That first sweeper looked fun and then I heard some wheel spin about mid course. If you're running a stock front sway bar, I was impressed by the fact in had minimal body roll. That was nice. Also, in looking at your mods of JLT II Intake | Bamachips 93 Tune | Borla Stingers, I assume you're not in stock class. Where does that place you? STX?
Enjoy the car and if you have any other autox tips, please send them my way. BTW, you know how to get more camber out of the front end of the car, right?
I started Autocrossing an '08 Bullitt this year. Only my second year doing this so you understand how green () I am when reading my comments.
I run Nitto NT-01 275/40/18 on the stock 18x8.5 rim. I run 40 psi up front and 34 psi in back. Most of the events are on concrete and being new I over drive the corners still. In slow, as others have said, is the way to drive this car fast.
I installed Tokico D-specs toward the end of the season. I currently have them adjusted near full soft in the rear (6-7 turns from full hard) and 4 turns from full hard up front (0 turns is full hard, 7 turns is full soft). I have only two events on the new struts/shocks so more experience is needed to be sure they are setup correctly.
I also did the Ford Manual authorized camber/crash bolt mod (PN: 4R3Z-3B236-AB) when I upgraded the struts. Gives a little more static camber up front. I don't know what the camber is set at now but it is set to the maximum allowed by the mod. I'm guessing around 1.7-2.0 deg neg.
I also did the Ford Manual authorized camber/crash bolt mod (PN: 4R3Z-3B236-AB) when I upgraded the struts. Gives a little more static camber up front. I don't know what the camber is set at now but it is set to the maximum allowed by the mod. I'm guessing around 1.7-2.0 deg neg.
Good to see more folks respond to this thread, good info so far. We have a question as to whether the AB camber/caster kit is allowed vs the AA camber kit. Does it ref directly in the manual the AB kit number. The excerpt I saw only mentioned the AA kit, so it makes the AB kit somewhat suspect for stock class. Do you have any info on where it states you can use the AB kit in the manual? Also, how much additional caster did you get w/ the AB kit? Usually more caster and autox'g don't go together well. There's also a big price difference between the AA and AB kits.
Good to see more folks respond to this thread, good info so far. We have a question as to whether the AB camber/caster kit is allowed vs the AA camber kit. Does it ref directly in the manual the AB kit number. The excerpt I saw only mentioned the AA kit, so it makes the AB kit somewhat suspect for stock class. Do you have any info on where it states you can use the AB kit in the manual? Also, how much additional caster did you get w/ the AB kit? Usually more caster and autox'g don't go together well. There's also a big price difference between the AA and AB kits.
At any rate, I went to my local Ford dealer to order them with that part number from the 2005 manual but they couldn't find them on the computer. After I explained what I was looking for he found the part number for the "kit" that contains two camber bolts/nuts and two castor bolts/nuts (4R3Z-3B236-AB). I didn't check to see if there was a number stamped on the camber bolts to verify if they match the 2005 manual or not.
As far as 4R3Z-3B236-AB vs. 4R3Z-3B236-AA on price, I don't know why they differ so much. It looks like that the "old" part number is -AA while the "new" number is -AB (whatever that means). http://www.dealermine.com/parts/loca...3B236AB&MK=&Z=
I did not replace the caster hardware so it isn't currently adjustable and I have not measured it since I did my own alignment which consisted of max camber and zero toe.
After reading that again, I guess that didn't make sense, sorry. I'm a member of the Tarheel sports car club in Raleigh and we have 3 s197 mustangs taking part in FS for the this time year along w/ one CTS/V. We're all learning what the legal mods are and there seems to be some confusion over the AA kit vs the AB kit. So, there's the "we".
Thanks for the info. Sounds like the AA is now the AB kit which is standard. I called my local dealer today and they only had the AB kit listed, which makes sense based on your information.
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autocross the s197
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